Category: On the Cheap

UPDATE 10/15/11: SOLD For a low cool $18.5M – Val Kilmer sold all but 141 acres of his 5,328-acre River Ranch in Pecos, NM to a Texas oil and gas executive and his wife for $18.5 million. The ranch originally was put on the market in 2009 for $33 million. It is not known whether Kilmer will maintain a residence in New Mexico.

But now in what is a dream come true for every high-falutin, bargain shopping voyeur of craigslist the mighty ranch of none-other than Val Kilmer can be YOURS for the (just in time for Halloween) slashed price of just $23M! Woot!

Unfortunately ma’ Huckelberry‘s former estate is up for grabs amidst ugliness aimed squarely at the Iceman via his No. N. Mex. neighbors.

So as the great prophet Val may be gettin’ ready to hightail it out of his NM diggs Microsoft style, here’s to hoping the resort style property falls into the peace & love lifestyle it so richly deserves…or at least all the peace & love that $23M can buy…and here’s a glimpse what ya’ ‘git for that sum…

The really simple Rx for the cheapest in Summertime beauty are these few items:

The obvious and ~plentiful yet sometimes so hard to choke down aqua is a must. Dehydration leads to ugly things like dry skin, chapped lips, brittle hair and constipation!

Which brings us neatly ’round to our next yummy little suggestion the prune or any of the gazzilion quick and easy ways there are to get some fiber to keep r-e-g-u-l-a-r.

Because irregularity in itself is rather unappetizing and it can really weigh ya’ down, REALLY. Not to mention (except to mention) that there are many, many benefits to keeping on the regular like maintaining your weight and World Peace.

Lastly as a nod to my dermatologist who put it best when she asked, “Did you come here on the subway?”, when I announced to her that I don’t go out in the sun much. SPF, SPF, SPF! Because ICYDK w/out it you more quickly meet aging and skin cancer.

Happy hydrating, bm’ing and spf’ing! Esp. to those of you just visiting/working/filming out in our hot sunny desert for the first time. ¡Bienvenidos!

This Friday July 9th Chick-fil-A® restaurants nationwide will celebrate the chain’s annual Cow Appreciation Day by offering a free meal to any customer who visits one of 1,400+ mall or stand-alone restaurants fully dressed as a cow.

Here are the corporate rules and rewards:

Customers dressed “head to hoof” in cow attire will be rewarded with a free Chick-fil-A Meal (breakfast, lunch or dinner), which includes an entrée of choice, a side item and a Dr Pepper® (or other beverage choice). For those “too chicken” to wear the full cow costume, Chick-fil-A will award a complimentary entrée to customers partially dressed in cow attire, such as a cow-spotted scarf, purse, hat or other accessory.

FilmMaker Production Services Company is liquidating its ENTIRE inventory.

“Want to own props and costumes used in television shows and blockbuster films? FPSC is selling their inventory including tables, chairs, lamps, sofas, desks, patio furniture, knick-knacks, men’s and women’s costumes and jewelry. View a sampling of the available items on line at filmmakerproductionservices.com.

Cash and major credit card will be accepted. No checks or deliveries.” – FPSC

Yesterday we posed the question to our social net pals on both Twitter & Facebook (sorry myspace, i’m just not that into you), “What sandwich makes you feel like a kid again?”

Good ol’ PB & J took it by a landslide! But lots of yummy and some surprising answers came back. The sweetest thing we noticed was how happy people were to answer esp. when their sammie of choice took them back to a memory with a loved one.

So here’s wishin’ you the cheap treat of chomping into YOUR favorite childhood sandwich and letting it take you back to abuelita’s fried bologna, dad’s PB & bannana, or your own chocolate covered fingers!

and p.s. dear grandma, thanks for all those grilled cheese with pickles

Currently boasting Total Dollars Saved $39,281,088, Total Groupons Bought 904,646!!

Get on the Groupon train by clicking here to start your national savings now!

Each day Groupon features different deals: steep discounts, two-fers, specials, etc. the masses are offered the chance to buy into to the deal with a minimum number of participants set to activate the discount. If/when the minimum number of buyers is reached the deal is released to them. If the min. goal is not met the deal expires.

Albuquerque businesses need to load this train by putting their deals out there. Put your business on Groupon here.

Eats – The Euros call us Ugly Americans for a reason. It’s probably not so much visual as culpable. The diet on the cheap tip o’ the day is the simple, extremely inconvenient truth that we need to eat right. Above is our personal favorite diet/lifestyle tool.

If we can get it square on the little round plate with whole grains, some veg, protein, and good dairy, we feel better, look better and most importantly when we do indulge in that chocolate cupcake, carne adovado burrito, and/or cheesy pizza pie, the little plate is still all it takes.

Clean – Essential oils indeed. You can use ’em for almost EVERYTHING. Air freshener, cleansers, furniture polish. They run from between $3-$7 at your local granola store or herbal vitamin depot. Just a few drops in good ol’ H20 make all of the non-toxic potions above that last and last.

Disney ain’t gonna like this – but times are tough, Baby Einstein be damned. With your internet access comes free toddler entertainment. And I do believe there’s at least a little learnin’ available here à la the ol’ See-n-say.

Here are some pre-reviewed, toddler pre-approved YouTube clips to entertain your children by:

My back is all jacked-up. Well, not the whole thing – just my spine & neck. I’m easily debilitated thanks to two awesome NM drivers one à la T-Bone, the other à la rear end collision – Thanks ladies. And, no I didn’t get all the compensation advertised by so many a daytime disability/accident/injury attorney or anything like, so I’m on my own for rehab. No therapeutic spa treatments for the Sindicator.

Anyouch, I’m easily torqued into stiffening pain so I have to be really careful of jarring motions like being a passenger with an overly aggressive, break tapper – which happened the other day, leaving me all misaligned, pinched and with radiating pain.

Enter big, hot rock. As most of the landscape here is artfully decorated with gravel, a nice large stone was easily employed to relieve the pain. And relieve it did. Pressed between me and my own car seat after escaping the brake tapper it released what ever muscle spasm or pull that was pinching me. Yay!

In another kind of pinch – when you find yourself racing out the door and your heels and toes are looking like the dusty, rough side of said hot rock and there’s no time for a proper pedi, stand yourself on a rag and spray that nastiness with some good ‘ol fashioned PAM aerosol cooking spray. Pat dry and you ‘re out the door!

To remove residue, build-up and of course the occasional grease stain – there’s no need for pricey specialty soaps and cleansers. Good ol’ fashioned dish liquid contains degreaser that can get oily stains out of your clothes by the wash load or as a pretreatment, diluted detergent can keep bugs and pests off your plants and even makes a good hair brightener.

Remember resorting to that pricey bottle of Anti-Residue Formula Neutrogena, well in a time or a penny pinch go to the kitchen an whip yourself up some beauty on the cheap.

So whether you want to spray that slug away or just get Timmy’s gravy stain off your blouse get back to basics for results.

Fiber, fiber, fiber! Mmm, mmm good and good for you! High fiber fruits, veggies, grains or even the drink mixes or supplements can clear your mind and your hmm, mmm this weekend. You’d be amazed how a lil’ regularity improves your outlook – what doesn’t weigh you down can set you free!

No, that isn’t me standing next to that Barbie Dream Mansion. I only wished I was a 9 yr. old white girl in 1983. But I did have that damn mansion ’cause I was spoi-eled… AND I had that sweet yellow corvette and bad Barbie R.V. It was AWESOME!

I used to have THE BEST Barbie-n-Ken outfits, my fave was the purple and red Business Barbie suit – it was so rad I can’t even express the JOY. My barbs ate like spoiled brats too. Magazine clippings of lobster tails, what ever looked decadent and hoity. Anything I’d seen on Hart to Hart, Dallas, Dynasty or Knots Landing.

And this my friends is where it all went wrong. How Hart to Hart made their riches? I don’t remember…What is up with the Dynasty peeps? No idea – they probably aren’t even in on the residual action for their DVD sales. It was a dumb, sloppy time. Oh, look at Falcon Crest…it was all wrong.

Now, Patrick Bateman would think me so gauche, but without a penny to my name – I’ve been better off than any of the times I was chasing the excess-of-the-eighties dream in my own Business Barbie suits. My BFFL always said this was the decade I’d come into my riches…and she was right. Excess is as OUT as shoulder pads.

With so called “lipstains” at nearly 8-bucks a pop this Beauty on the Cheap post is dedicated to the non-toxic lipstain every elementary school kid has known about for eons, they’re called ®Crayola Markers. Hello – you can have every color in the rainbow for less than $4.

An official member of the independently owned and operated Cities On The Cheap websites available across the United States and Canada, Hanes brings real-time deals, ease in accessibility and interface to thrifty Albuquerqueans.